Bike apps for the iPad

To celebrate the launch of our very own Bike Doctor iPad app, I wanted to do a roundup of some of the excellent apps available to cyclists on their iPads. Bike apps on the iPad are primarily dominated by mapping apps, cycling magazines and a seemingly infinite supply of games!

Bike Doctor 2.0

Our app! Bike Doctor has step by step instructions for maintaining your bike. It covers the basics such as puncture repairs and brake pad replacements, to the more advanced repairs such as truing wheels and adjusting gears. The app is written with beginners in mind, so the instructions are easy to follow and clearly written. Bike Doctor is available for both iPhone and iPad, so you always have it with you. Learn how to detect problems with your bike early on, save money on bike shop repairs and get to know your bike. The app costs £2.99 which is less than a pint!

Cyclemeter GPS

If you’ve got the Wifi + 3G version of the iPad, then you can GPS track your rides on Cyclemeter GPS. The app is similar to the highly successful iPhone version, with a simplified navigation. You can upload and export your routes, see your ride history and check all the stats from your ride. The app tracks everything you could possibly imagine, from calories to speed and distance.

Also worth a look: iBiker

Cyclist: The Road Cycling Magazine

Most of the major magazines have made their way on to the iPad. The Cyclist magazine is dedicated to road cycling with coverage of the best road bikes and gear. You can try the first month of the magazine for free and, if you like what you see, get an annual subscription for £39.99. The real joy of this magazine and others is the high definition on the images included, which is well appreciated on the retina iPad.

Bikemap – Your Bike Routes

This iPhone and iPad app shows bike routes near your location. There are over 800,000 routes included in the database so you are bound to find something of interest. All rides include elevation profiles, distances, descriptions and ratings. You can also upload your own recorded routes to the database. The app is free to download.

Cycle paths UK & Ireland

From National Cycle paths to Cycle Superhighways, this free iPhone and iPad bike app is a guide to the UK’s cycle infrastructure. The app also includes the CycleStreets journey planner so you can work out your route using bike friendly streets.

Cyclepedia – Iconic Bicycle Designs

Bikes, bikes and more bikes are featured in Cyclepedia, a £6.99 app that beautifully tours you through bike designs. You can spin around the featured bikes in a 360 degree view and you can zoom right in to see intimate details. This is a great app to dip in and out of when you have a free moment.

UK Open Maps

This is a must have iPad app for outdoor lovers, cyclists and map lovers. The app allows you to switch between 6 different map types, some of which can be downloaded to the memory of the iPad, to take with you. UK Open Maps works with outdoorsgps.com to offer route planning and downloads from the huge database of routes. The app costs £0.69 to download and is available for iPhone and iPad.

Track My Tour

This is an excellent little app for iPhone and iPad that I’ve been using to keep track of my travelling route. You drop a pin every time reach a new location and it updates your map which you can share with your friends. In the pin you include details such as what the weather was like, a short description and any pictures. It’s a great way to visualise your bike tour. The app is free to download and the full version allows you to store more maps.

Touchgrind BMX

At some stage I’ll cover great cycling games for the iPad separately, but I thought I should mention a couple of these BMX ones as they are very good fun, especially on a long journey! (Although on a long journey anything is more fun than staring at the seat in front of you). Top of the list is Touchgrind BMX. This £2.99 app has a very unique control system, in that you hold your two fingers on the bike, and flick depending on the trick you want to perform. The graphics are really good and there are a number of cool courses to complete. It’s no surprise this game won the Best Sports Games at the International Gaming Awards.

Also worth a look: Mad skills BMX, Pocket BMX lite

Ride the City

Ride the City is a US focused navigation app, that contains all the bike lanes in major American cities. More recently, this has started expanding to major European cities. You can easily plot a route between two locations using the app and see bike shops, bike share programs and local weather. This bike app costs £1.19 and is available for iPhone and iPad.

Bike Rack Locator

Bike Rack Locator (iPhone and iPad) shows you the nearest bike racks to your location. Whilst not all bike racks are listed, it can be useful to have an idea where you are going to leave your bike. If you know of any bike racks near you that are missing from the database, then you can add them in from the app.